Chapter 73
Chapter 73
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: Chapter 73
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: Sodom's Turmoil
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What would the gods think of arrogant humans daring to draw near the heavens?
The answer to this philosophical question—one I’d never pondered before—lay right here amid these towering mountains.
‘I shall test you.’
Before nature, all accomplishments held no meaning.
All the pride and bonds we’d built over time were subjected to a blind ordeal beneath the open sky.
Mountains bearing the prefix “ancient,” and the countless ages slumbering within them.
Before the North, mother to the entire continent, there was nothing to gain but hard-won insight.
Yet neither the ferocious cold nor the howling gales could shatter our resolve to conquer the peaks.
For a knight, pushing beyond limits was as instinctive as drawing breath.
Today, they advanced 100 meters. Tomorrow, 50.
To survive, they shoveled snow for air pockets and melted frozen rations to eat, all while holding an optimal pace.
Oxygen grew thin while nature thickened in opposition.
In that endless cycle of agony and revelation, we tasted every emotion the human soul could hold.
And after another week of staring at the back of the head of the man ahead, the uphill slog finally ended.
We’d reached our target—the lowest ridge—without a single straggler.
But what washed over us wasn’t triumph or elation. It was a dizzying vertigo at the sight before our eyes.
Beyond that lowest ridge stood a world crammed full of jagged summits.
‘Let’s never come back here.’
‘Sounds good to me.’
Every spark of ambition extinguished in an instant.
We yearned desperately for this high-mountain climb to be both our first and final mission as we turned our steps toward the gorge.
The descent didn’t take long.
The revitalized knight order moved with purpose, reaching our destination—Scream Gorge—in short order.
Sheer cliffs towered on either side of a narrow defile barely wide enough for two wagons abreast.
The eerie wails carried on every gust of wind drove home why this place bore the name Scream Gorge.
I established a small camp at the mouth, the prime entry point into the gorge.
While recovering my depleted stamina, I took stock of my condition in preparation for the trials ahead.
“How much supplies do we have left?”
“Rations for just two days. Losing the weapons stings the worst.”
We’d packed generously, or so we thought.
But the ascent had claimed far too many supply sleds, and per-person food and water consumption had exceeded all estimates.
Gaunt faces from meager meals. Filthy hair matted with sweat and grime.
Who would mistake us for knights?
Even our sole remaining weapons—the daggers—were tucked away in our bosoms, leaving us indistinguishable from refugees.
I stroked my bushy beard and shared a laugh with the knights.
“At least we don’t have to worry about being spotted.”
This look passed for camouflage well enough.
Taking heart in our safe arrival, I turned to Richard.
“Any settlements nearby?”
“A major city sits at the gorge’s entrance. It’s the vital hub linking to the Empire’s core territories.”
“What about access?”
“Swarming with slaves. They won’t pay us much mind if we don’t travel in a pack.”
Fortune smiled: I still carried several pure gold nuggets courtesy of the prime minister.
High-grade stuff—more than enough to procure quality weapons and food, then outfit a disguised caravan bound for the pass.
I summoned Rough Oat.
“Split the men into two groups. You stay here at camp with the knights and await our return.”
“You’re going yourself? Send some subordinates.”
“No, I’ll handle it. Scout the surrounding terrain while I’m gone.”
No telling what might unfold in the city.
Best I scout it personally and return with a airtight plan.
Rough Oat bowed in acknowledgment, and I gave the order to move out.
Just half a month remained. We had to seize the pass before the Northern Army arrived.
And so we abandoned the temporary camp and descended below Scream Gorge.
The eastern territories, revisited after long years.
“Big builds on these ones. Northern slaves?”
“That’s right. Got lucky snagging ’em.”
“Heh, fine. You’re cleared!”
Ronald, well-versed in eastern politics, played the slave trader to perfection and slipped the guards a bribe.
Thanks to him, we slipped into the eastern city of Sodom without interference.
Sodom—the sole gateway linking the east and central continent—was a sprawling metropolis.
But the moment I set foot inside, Richard’s words about the “kingdom where no one breathes” hit home.
“Pl... please... have mercy...”
Cough! Cough!
The streets choked with dust and filth.
Orphans who’d lost their parents begged for scraps, while every able-bodied adult had been enslaved for backbreaking labor.
What enraged us most was that the enslavers weren’t some alien race—they were fellow humans.
Richard and Ronald couldn’t stomach the revulsion and hung their heads.
As royalty of the eastern kingdom, they could scarcely bear to look upon the scene.
Tug. Tug.
Something yanked at my sleeve.
Looking down, a tiny girl clutched my pants alongside her even younger sibling.
Begging for food?
Yet there was no flicker of hope or expectation in the girl’s eyes.
The children merely existed because they’d been born, withering away without ever glimpsing true light.
I halted and broke off chunks of hardtack from my pouch, feeding them into their mouths.
“...Put it in your mouths and let it melt slowly. Don’t spit it out—finish every bit right here.”
If they wandered off with it, sharper-eyed street urchins would snatch it away.
All too aware of that harsh truth, I waited until the siblings had devoured it all.
I knew it was just one meager meal.
But withholding even this scrap of kindness would have left a sour taste nothing could wash away.
Munch. Gulp.
Once I confirmed they’d melted and swallowed every morsel, I rose silently.
I held the gaze of the girl staring up with hollow eyes for a long moment, then turned and walked toward the others.
The bottomless despair twisted into cold fury at this wretched reality.
I offered counsel to the prince-in-exile who’d set forth to rewrite his kingdom’s fate.
“Richard, the temptation to surrender will strike anytime. But even if you’re reduced to crawling and begging, never stop fighting.”
“...I’ll keep that in mind.”
Never surrender. Never yield.
The instant you cease the struggle, wolves will vault the fence and tear into the sheep.
We reaffirmed our ancestors’ hard lessons and hurried through Sodom’s squalid streets.
The east’s sweltering, cloying air seemed to strangle even the freest spirits.
“Two big gold pieces for fifty blades. Deal?”
“You messing with me?”
“Tch, plenty of fools can’t even snag these. Shop around.”
The merchant’s wares were uniformly garbage forged from inferior iron.
And with markups like that, curses flowed unbidden.
But what burned hotter was how right the sleazy bastard mostly was.
This was my utter blunder—a failure to account for the continent’s current state.
At my subtle signal, Ronald let out a deep sigh and tossed over a gold nugget.
We needed a wagon first and foremost.
“Just give us the wagon.”
“Haha, much obliged, sir!”
The merchant’s face flipped in an instant. He snatched the gold and bowed low.
Then he scurried to the stables out back to fetch the wagon and horses.
What a slippery weasel.
Ronald spat on the floor and approached me where I sat in the shop’s corner.
“Apologies, Captain. Looks like the merchants are colluding. Let’s try a smaller shop—bound to be stock somewhere.”
“Doubt it’ll be any different.”
With the Orc Empire—the continent’s largest domain—locked in civil war, quality arms weren’t just lying around.
Most decent stock had likely flowed to the central continent already, or smiths were handing fresh output straight to the orcs.
Had I lingered too long in the North?
I kneaded my furrowed brow and addressed the at-a-loss Ronald.
“Load up whatever supplies we can scrounge and prep to head back to the gorge.”
“Just rejoining the others?”
“Can’t fight with this trash. Better to raid orc territory for gear.”
Plundering enemy supplies offered far higher odds.
Reminding myself time was short, I shook the dust from my grimy robe.
After so long in the North’s crisp, invigorating air, the east’s muggy heat was unbearable.
Unable to stand the stifling atmosphere, I handed off cleanup and stepped outside.
Creak... clunk!
Flutter, flutter!
“-----?”
But instead of fresh air, a thin, gossamer sheet of paper wafted in from somewhere as I opened the door.
I snatched it midair out of habit.
The palm-sized scrap was covered in dense, handwritten script.
[Dearest citizens of Sodom! The long night of oppression ends now! Rage for true liberation—rage again!]
[The Eastern Crows fight for freedom and equality. Eternal death to the kingdom’s tyrants! True enlightenment to our Sodom comrades!]
It was a clumsy agitprop leaflet.
Yet every painstakingly inked character carried ideas utterly foreign and unforeseen.
Liberation? Freedom? Oppression? Eastern Crows?
I’d never imagined encountering such terms in Sodom, the heart of exploitation.
But the shock didn’t end there.
Kyaaaak—!
Over there! Grab him!
Bam! Crunch!
The central market had erupted into pandemonium, papers strewn everywhere.
Guards had swiftly mobilized and cornered the one who’d showered the city with manifestos.
Ripping screams and crushed belongings.
Crowds fled in all directions as spear-wielding guards surged after the perpetrator.
And in a stroke of rotten luck, the fugitive bolted straight toward this shop.
For a split second, my eyes met those of the culprit—who’d leaped from the roof like a cat.
“Gasp!”
He recoiled in shock.
I flinched too and moved to slip quietly back inside, steering clear of the commotion.
Flutter!
But in a deranged instant, the culprit hurled the bundle of papers he clutched.
He’d dumped the whole explosive payload of manifestos on a total stranger—me.
“S-sorry!”
Sorry? That’s what you say now?
I bolted after the brazen fool vaulting the wall.
“Accomplice!”
“Halt, you scum!”
But the pursuing guards fixed bloodshot glares on me and charged.
To them, reason apparently ended the moment I accepted the goods.
Would they listen if I cried innocence?
The sheer absurdity left me with nothing but a hollow chuckle.
“Hraaagh!”
I dropped the papers, and the swaggering guards thrust their spears at me.
Of course, none pierced my flesh.
Snap!
“Gaaaah!”
A burly figure appeared at my side and shattered a spear.
Another brute floored the guard lunging at me with a single punch.
More hulks swarmed the area in seconds.
As I shed my robe, the knight order accompanying me did the same and asked,
“Captain, what’s going on?”
“...A regrettable mishap.”
Hic!
Human or monster?
One guard choked back a hiccup at the sight of a helmet crumpled by a single fist.
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